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Karin Thevissen

Other affiliations: Catholic University of Leuven
Bio: Karin Thevissen is an academic researcher from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The author has contributed to research in topics: Candida albicans & Plant defensin. The author has an hindex of 49, co-authored 168 publications receiving 11610 citations. Previous affiliations of Karin Thevissen include Catholic University of Leuven.


Papers
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TL;DR: These guidelines are presented for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes.
Abstract: In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.

4,316 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: All antimicrobial peptides studied thus far appear to exert their antimicrobial effect at the level of the plasma membrane of the target microorganism, but the different peptide types are likely to act via different mechanisms.
Abstract: Peptides with antimicrobial properties are present in most if not all plant species All plant antimicrobial peptides isolated so far contain even numbers of cysteines (4, 6, or 8), which are all pairwise connected by disulfide bridges, thus providing high stability to the peptides Based on homologies at the primary structure level, plant antimicrobial peptides can be classified into distinct families including thionins, plant defensins, lipid transfer proteins, and he vein- and knottin-type antimicrobial peptides Detailed three-dimensional structure information has been obtained for one or more members of these peptide families All antimicrobial peptides studied thus far appear to exert their antimicrobial effect at the level of the plasma membrane of the target microorganism, but the different peptide types are likely to act via different mechanisms Antimicrobial peptides can occur in all plant organs In unstressed organs, antimicrobial peptides are usually most abundant in the outer cell

635 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Five antifungal proteins were isolated and shown to be homologous to plant defensins previously characterised from radish seeds and γ‐thionins from Poaceae seeds, and can be divided into two classes based on the spectrum of their antimicriobial activity and the morphological distortions they induce on fungi.

400 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is thought that cation-resistant permeabilization is binding site mediated and linked to the primary cause of fungal growth inhibition induced by plant defensins.
Abstract: We used an assay based on the uptake of SYTOX Green, an organic compound that fluoresces upon interaction with nucleic acids and penetrates cells with compromised plasma membranes, to investigate membrane permeabilization in fungi. Membrane permeabilization induced by plant defensins in Neurospora crassa was biphasic, depending on the plant defensin dose. At high defensin levels (10 to 40 microM), strong permeabilization was detected that could be strongly suppressed by cations in the medium. This permeabilization appears to rely on direct peptide-phospholipid interactions. At lower defensin levels (0.1 to 1 microM), a weaker, but more cation-resistant, permeabilization occurred at concentrations that correlated with the inhibition of fungal growth. Rs-AFP2(Y38G), an inactive variant of the plant defensin Rs-AFP2 from Raphanus sativus, failed to induce cation-resistant permeabilization in N. crassa. Dm-AMP1, a plant defensin from Dahlia merckii, induced cation-resistant membrane permeabilization in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) which correlated with its antifungal activity. However, Dm-AMP1 could not induce cation-resistant permeabilization in the Dm-AMP1-resistant S. cerevisiae mutant DM1, which has a drastically reduced capacity for binding Dm-AMP1. We think that cation-resistant permeabilization is binding site mediated and linked to the primary cause of fungal growth inhibition induced by plant defensins.

362 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Structurally homologous anti-fungal peptides present in species from different eukaryotic kingdoms interact with the same target in the fungal plasma membrane, namely glucosylceramides, and as such support the hypothesis that defensins from plants and insects have evolved from a single precursor.

355 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI

[...]

08 Dec 2001-BMJ
TL;DR: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one, which seems an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.
Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

33,785 citations

28 Jul 2005
TL;DR: PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、树突状组胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作�ly.
Abstract: 抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1(PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员,通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

18,940 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
24 Jan 2002-Nature
TL;DR: As the need for new antibiotics becomes more pressing, could the design of anti-infective drugs based on the design principles these molecules teach us?
Abstract: Multicellular organisms live, by and large, harmoniously with microbes. The cornea of the eye of an animal is almost always free of signs of infection. The insect flourishes without lymphocytes or antibodies. A plant seed germinates successfully in the midst of soil microbes. How is this accomplished? Both animals and plants possess potent, broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides, which they use to fend off a wide range of microbes, including bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa. What sorts of molecules are they? How are they employed by animals in their defence? As our need for new antibiotics becomes more pressing, could we design anti-infective drugs based on the design principles these molecules teach us?

7,657 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The current status of botanical screening efforts, as well as in vivo studies of their effectiveness and toxicity, are summarized and the structure and antimicrobial properties of phytochemicals are addressed.
Abstract: The use of and search for drugs and dietary supplements derived from plants have accelerated in recent years. Ethnopharmacologists, botanists, microbiologists, and natural-products chemists are combing the Earth for phytochemicals and “leads” which could be developed for treatment of infectious diseases. While 25 to 50% of current pharmaceuticals are derived from plants, none are used as antimicrobials. Traditional healers have long used plants to prevent or cure infectious conditions; Western medicine is trying to duplicate their successes. Plants are rich in a wide variety of secondary metabolites, such as tannins, terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids, which have been found in vitro to have antimicrobial properties. This review attempts to summarize the current status of botanical screening efforts, as well as in vivo studies of their effectiveness and toxicity. The structure and antimicrobial properties of phytochemicals are also addressed. Since many of these compounds are currently available as unregulated botanical preparations and their use by the public is increasing rapidly, clinicians need to consider the consequences of patients self-medicating with these preparations.

7,486 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Daniel J. Klionsky1, Kotb Abdelmohsen2, Akihisa Abe3, Joynal Abedin4  +2519 moreInstitutions (695)
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macro-autophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes.
Abstract: In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. For example, a key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process including the amount and rate of cargo sequestered and degraded). In particular, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation must be differentiated from stimuli that increase autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. It is worth emphasizing here that lysosomal digestion is a stage of autophagy and evaluating its competence is a crucial part of the evaluation of autophagic flux, or complete autophagy. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. Along these lines, because of the potential for pleiotropic effects due to blocking autophagy through genetic manipulation, it is imperative to target by gene knockout or RNA interference more than one autophagy-related protein. In addition, some individual Atg proteins, or groups of proteins, are involved in other cellular pathways implying that not all Atg proteins can be used as a specific marker for an autophagic process. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.

5,187 citations